I feared that this day would be a long time coming. I hope that everyone who reads this thread or posts maintains an open mind about it, because something like this has the propensity to cause a ton of controversy. But at the same time, I believe that this thread should be left open because of the concerns that it raises.
For more than three full seasons I have witnessed the growth of ChiefDelphi, in users and in posts. I have also witnessed the arrival of many different personalities (not a surprise given the increased number of users) and as such, some of these personalities have been a direct contrast to what is usually seen in FIRST Veteran Circles, or what ChiefDelphi might have been (I am not that old school
). However, time and again I have witnessed the same arguments from the same group of veterans. There is one group who take themselves far too seriously and expect everyone to act in accordance with the conventions that they established, informally or not. There is another group of these same individuals that espouse the need for acceptance and freedom of expression while stipulating that new posters should take the time to read the forum rules, outline their thoughts and ideas and avoid provoking individuals. Because of concerns raised in past seasons, I am glad to say that I have witnessed a distinct shift toward the latter group. However, some individuals continue to maintain a collectively held belief that ChiefDelphi is a bastion of expression that can only be sorted in one form, their form.
Granted Pyro's original post was lacking in a well-formed argument, or even a relevant topic, but I see absolutely no reason in giving him 120 negative reputation points. No where does he actively insult a FIRST team, but he divulges his personal beliefs on the state of freshmen in a high school, something the same group of posters on ChiefDelphi have no doubt said before, only in a different context or tone. Why should he immediately be slammed for something like that? What I would have liked to have seen is someone posting about why that kind of reasoning or argument should have been left to somewhere else, or the fact that he should have presented some form of evidence or relevance about the freshmen treatment. I firmly believe that either negative reputation or reputation itself should just be scrapped in general. For someone who consistently abuses the forums, negative reputation isn't going to stop them. For someone who just doesn't understand, a PM or a posting in reply that is well-formed, patient and respecting of their opinion would be far more effective, despite the fact that you can now attach comments to reputation.
I realize that ChiefDelphi isn't a free board, there are rules that everyone should follow, but for something as trivial as Pyro asked, there was absolutely no reason to slam him with that many negative points. Obviously you cant track how many he received, but I would like to believe that individuals would think to post or private message him first about his topic rather than trying to discourage him in such a manner.
Everyone has a different maturity level in their lifetimes and they still need to be respected and to have their opinions heard.
There are a lot of great people who have yet to post on ChiefDelphi and a lot of great people who have stopped posting due to the amount of politics and incidents like this. Let's not scare them off anymore. Please.
Veterans, be smart in how you treat newcomers. Point them to rules, guidelines and above all be patient with them. FIRST and ChiefDelphi aren't exclusive clubs, indeed, they are meant for everyone to experience.